The Young Horse: Ground Manners

A horse that shys at every touch is dangerous and unpredictable. Horses are prey animals, so it is normal for them to be afraid of new and unusual objects, fast movement, and people or other things that come up behind them. What you want to do is expose your horse to many different situations so it has a wider experience base to draw on. Horses have incredible memories. They remember good and bad. You want to convince the horse that some things that seem bad are really neither good or bad, but neutral and not to be feared. In this lesson you will sack the horse out with various objects in order to overcome it's fear.

Step 1
Have your horse haltered with a lead rope on. Your horse should be halter broke. If not, read the article on Halter Breaking and begin there. If your horse is halter broke, take it to a safe area, a round pen is good. Begin by leading your horse around. Then stop the horse. Pet it's head. Slowly work your way to it's neck. Pet it slowly, gently, not patting, not feathery light. If it will let you touch it's ears, top of it's neck, poll, then do so. Move slowly. If at any point your horse gets upset, return to a spot that it accepts. Stay there a minute, then slowly work your way back to the neck, then shoulder, back, barrel (don't lean down, you don't want to get kicked in the head). Your goal is to be able to touch the horse all over on both sides of it's body. We aren't picking up feet, just touch the legs. If the horse doesn't accept you touching the back legs, leave them alone.

Step 2
When your horse accepts touching all over with no fear, use a soft cloth to rub it. Let your horse smell the cloth. Rub with the direction of hair growth. Start at the head, like you are grooming. Work your way back, do both sides. If at any time the horse gets scared, go back to a comfortable spot. If it really panics, stop, put the cloth away and use your hand. When the horse accepts the cloth, move to the next step.

Step 3
Using a light weight saddle blanket, not too big, approach the horse. It really helps to have all these things over the fence of the area you are training in so the horse can see them and get used to them being around. You may want to walk up to them and let the horse smell them before you start the lesson. You will use the pad the same way you used your hand and the cloth. After it smells it, touch it to the horses neck. If it backs away, let it smell it again. Touch it again. If it still backs away or begins to panic, go to step 2. If it accepts it, work your way back toward the tail, rubbing with the hair. Do both sides. Talk quietly to your horse, reassuring it. Touch it's neck, back, legs, hips, barrel. When it accepts this move on. These steps can take hours, days, weeks. Very frightened, nervous, or abused horses take longer.

Step 4
Now use a soft rope to do the same thing. The rope should be about 8 - 10 feet long. Coil it up and let the horse smell it. If it accepts it, begin touching it on the neck. If it is afraid, let it smell it again. Any time the horse panics, go back to the hand or soft cloth, or even the pad.

You want your horse to accept the rope touching it all over. This part of the training will help you in tying, longing, ground driving and if your horse gets tangled up. It is very important to get your horse to accept the rope. Take your time.

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